Sam Sterling has been appointed Managing Director of AKQA’s Shanghai studio, leading the team of 50 people. With more than ten years’ experience in leadership roles, Sam was most recently Executive Strategy Director Asia Pacific of a digital marketing specialist based in Melbourne. Prior to this, Sam held senior roles at social marketing firm, Tiger Pistol, and trade body, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Commenting on the appointment, Sam said: “I’m pleased to be joining AKQA in the heart of China’s creative industry at an exciting time for our company, the industry and region. China is one of the world’s leading investors and innovators in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, autonomous vehicles and robotics, and we look forward to collaborating with our clients to create new applications for these important technologies.”

Brian Vella, Managing Director, AKQA Asia Pacific said: “With our shared values and aspirations to create influential work for purpose-lead organisations, we are excited to welcome Sam to lead our Shanghai studio. As the world’s largest e-commerce market, and with a third of the world’s most valuable start-ups based in China, the platform is in place to create genre-redefining experiences for clients that are celebrated globally.”

AKQA Shanghai has recently launched Believe In More, a 360° virtual reality film about the rise of Zhou Dong Yu, one of China’s leading actresses to launch the Nike Women Fall 2017 collection; and Court Born, Street Bound, a street culture project to launch the new Converse x NBA collection in China.